Editorial: 'The pajamas test' for Daniels and Purdue

In his first year at Purdue University, Mitch Daniels has spent a fair amount of time shedding his previous title - Indiana governor - and getting comfortable in his new title, that of university president.

To be fair, the period of settling in probably was being done as much or more by everyone around him than it was by Daniels himself. Not that Daniels had it all figured out from day one. But since January 2013, he's done what he seems naturally wired to do: make it his job to be a quick study and get people itching - or at least willing - to make changes.

As he learned at the Statehouse at the start of his eight years as governor, wanting big changes quickly isn't exactly the same as getting big changes quickly. It took Gov. Daniels some time there, too.

But give him credit for navigating the tricky halls of academia, particularly when he was picked apart by those looking for hints of the partisan political past he swore he'd leave behind.

But for all of the attention that came Daniels' way - from the bad in the remnants of comments made as governor about the work of historian Howard Zinn to the good with a two-year tuition freeze on the West Lafayette campus - one repeated concept never quite established itself as the social media hashtag it was born to be: #ThePajamasTest.

Daniels has been floating that catchphrase for months now without much traction. But how well he sells that point seems key in Purdue's future and probably to the future of high education on a broader scale.

The idea is simple: What can universities do, faced with the promise of online learning and the mounting expense of a traditional four-year degree, to keep drawing students to campus? In other words, why should students come to a brick-and-mortar school when they could get a degree at home, in their pajamas?

In a six-page letter to campus last week, Daniels touched on that, playing to the university's built-in strengths: extensive labs, campus leadership opportunities and undergraduate research projects. But he said Purdue needs to start retooling the classroom experience to take advantage of technology to free up time for teaching in closer quarters, encourage study abroad options and tout the benefits of living on campus.

What will help is Daniels' suggestion that Purdue is prepared to hold the line on tuition for a third consecutive year. How well Daniels sells the rest of that Pajamas Test concept will go a long way to shaping Purdue during his second year.

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Editorial: 'The pajamas test' for Daniels and Purdue

In his first year at Purdue University, Mitch Daniels has spent a fair amount of time shedding his previous title ? Indiana governor ? and getting comfortable in his new title, that of university